About Time (2013)

About Time Synopsis

At the age of 21, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers he can travel in time...

The night after another unsatisfactory New Year party, Tim's father (Bill Nighy) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time. Tim can't change history, but he can change what happens and has happened in his own lifeóso he decides to make his world a better place...by getting a girlfriend. Sadly, that turns out not to be as easy as you might think.

Moving from the Cornwall coast to London to train as a lawyer, Tim finally meets the beautiful but insecure Mary (Rachel McAdams). They fall in love, then an unfortunate time-travel incident means he's never met her at all. So they meet for the first time againóand againóbut finally, after a lot of cunning time-traveling, he wins her heart.

Tim then uses his power to create the perfect romantic proposal, to save his wedding from the worst best-man speeches, to save his best friend from professional disaster and to get his pregnant wife to the hospital in time for the birth of their daughter, despite a nasty traffic jam outside Abbey Road.

But as his unusual life progresses, Tim finds out that his unique gift can't save him from the sorrows and ups and downs that affect all families, everywhere. There are great limits to what time travel can achieve, and it can be dangerous too. About Time is a comedy about love and time travel, which discovers that, in the end, making the most of life may not need time travel at all.

Dallas Buyers Club isnít the feel good movie of the year. Itís not a war cry for equal rights or a sobering historical narrative about the early years of HIV prevalence. Itís a film framed in rapid cut-tos, telling the story of an angular man with a vision that knew how to do a lot of things, but never how to give up.

Domhnall Gleeson was feeling pretty good when I talked to him in New York a few weeks ago-- the night before, at the New York Film Festival premiere of About Time, he had gotten to indulge in a baked potato. An entire baked potato. Gleeson isn't one of those insane Hollywood dieting types, I promise

The surprise in About Time, though, is that itís not really a romantic comedy at all but a story about family, specifically Timís father played by Bill Nighy, who also has the power of time travel and who helps guide his son through this fantastical new skill. How Dad has used his own powers, and to what ends, is a reveal thatís part of the emotional wallop in About Time, in which Curtis steps back to remind Tim and the audience of what he calls ďthe extraordinary nature of our ordinary lives.Ē

Richard Curtis, the writer who mastered the high-concept wish-fulfillment fantasy of Notting Hill and the many-threaded romances of Love Actually, is the perfect person to bring us a rom-com like About Time. Unfortunately, even though Curtis wrote and directed it, About Time is not a perfect rom-com for him, with sloppier plotting and fuzzier morals than the airy story can handle, and a wide streak of sentimentality that's frustratingly unearned

If I had to choose anybody in the world to take me through the step-by-step process of how to time travel my first choice would naturally be Christopher Lloyd, but Bill Nighy is certainly a solid second option. Sure, I'd miss Doc Brown's trademark frantic craziness, but one could see how Nighy's laid back attitude and British charm would come in handy.

What if you could relive any moment until it was perfect? This is the question at the center of writer-director Richard Curtis's latest romantic comedy, which boasts a clever sci-fi twist. This time round, the mind behind such winsome romances as Love Actually, Notting Hill, and Four Weddings and a Funeral centers his love story on a gawky 21-year-old man named Tim (Anna Karenina's Domhnall Gleeson), whose just learned that his unique DNA allows him to time travel at will.

Nighy plays the patriarch of a family whose male members are able to travel through time. He passes this information down to his relative, Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), who doesnít use the newfound gift to change dramatic passages of history or correct humanityís past mistakes. He uses it to get girls.

Rachel McAdams didn't fare all that waell the first time she starred in a romance opposite a man who could time travel, when The Time Traveler's Wife failed to be nearly as big a hit as the movie it was based on. But she's giving it another shot anyway, starring opposite Anna Karenina standout Domnhall Gleeson

I'm starting to think that Rachel McAdams may have a thing for guys who have the ability to time travel. In 2009 she starred alongside Eric Bana in The Time Traveler's Wife as a woman who lives a life with a husband who can't control his ability to time jump, and now she's getting set to play a similar role - only this time the time travel ability is controlled and it's a comedy instead of a drama.

Deschanel finds herself in a unique spot. Very few working television actors balance a busy movie schedule as well as usually the time commitment requires actors to choose one medium over the other. It will be interesting to see if she can continue to find substantial roles that fit her New Girl hiatus schedule. At the same time, Iíve completely warmed up to New Girl now that the sitcom has found its stride...

There's no word yet on the film's plot, but with Curtis's filmography in mind it seems likely this science fiction tale will have an ensemble cast, rapid-fire banter and a dulcet hint of romance at the least